By: Dr. Andrew Yox, NTCC Honors Director
The 2019 issue of Touchstone, the collegiate journal of the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) released this spring, contains three essays by students currently enrolled at NTCC. Rhylie Anderson, president of both Alpha Mu Chi and the student council of Honors Northeast, published her work on African-American leaders in Texas who had to cope with the late-nineteenth century era, when blacks were losing the vote. Jazmin Garcia, another scholar of Honors Northeast who like Anderson has won several other awards, published her article on Mildred Moody, Texas First Lady 1927-31. Finally, Morgan Martin, a former honors student who now studies nursing at NTCC, published her article on a development of seminal significance regionally, the fall of Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation.
An editorial board comprised of four university professors, four community college professors, and the TSHA Education Director determined the selections for the recent issue in the spring of 2018. Once selected, Anderson, Garcia, and Martin were all given recommendations for revision which they successfully completed this past summer. All three of their works had been originally submitted as the course requirement for the honors course in Texas history in the fall of 2017.
Honors Director, Dr. Andrew Yox notes that “each of these essays not only contribute to our understanding of Texas history, but suggest promising avenues of student research. Gone are the days when Northeast Texas, because of our lack of a large library, is at a disadvantage. Anderson showed how a student might conjoin the work of several historians to make a new story. In Garcia’s case we are thankful both for the work of NTCC’s research librarian, Heather Shaw in locating a rare memoir of Moody, and for the way Garcia constructed a winsome story line, a romance, in fact. Finally Morgan Martin, I believe, is the first of NTCC’s student scholars to gain the attention of local leaders. Their stories, and her personable verve in talking with business leaders, former employees at Pilgrim’s, Pilgrim’s former pastor, and Mount Pleasant’s longtime Mayor, Jerry Boatner made for yet another milestone for student success here.”
All three students have also presented their work in other formats. Rhylie Anderson was recently featured in the meeting of the Texas State Historical Association at Corpus Christi. Her essay was selected as the representative of the best Texas history research contributed by a freshman or sophomore in the state of Texas in 2018. Jazmin Garcia presented her work on Moody at both the meetings of the Great Plains Honors Council last spring, and the National Collegiate Honors Council last November in Boston. Finally, Morgan Martin presented her work last spring at the meeting of the Great Plains Honors Council at Oklahoma State University, qualifying as a semi-finalist in the Brett Poster Award competition.
The 2019 spring Touchstone also carries an illustrated article of NTCC’s Walter Webb Chapter, detailing the story of how it made its Caldwell-Award winning film on Barbara Conrad.
Anyone interested in obtaining this year’s Touchstone should write Yox at ayox@ntcc.edu, or contact the Texas State Historical Association.
